The invention had the object of finding novel compounds having valuable properties, in particular those which can be used for the preparation of medicaments.
The present invention relates to compounds in which the inhibition, regulation and/or modulation of kinase signal transduction, in particular by the cell volume-regulated human kinase h-sgk (human serum and glucocorticoid dependent kinase or SGK), plays a role, furthermore to pharmaceutical compositions which comprise these compounds, and to the use of the compounds for the treatment of SGK-induced diseases.
The SGKs having the isoforms SGK-1, SGK-2 and SGK-3 are a serine/threonine protein kinase family (WO 02/17893). The compounds according to the invention are preferably selective inhibitors of SGK-1. They may furthermore be inhibitors of SGK-2 and/or SGK-3.
In detail, the present invention relates to compounds which inhibit, regulate and/or modulate signal transduction by SGKs, to compositions which comprise these compounds, and to processes for the use thereof for the treatment of SGK-induced diseases and conditions, such as diabetes (for example diabetes mellitus, diabetic nephropathy, diabetic neuropathy, diabetic angiopathy and microangiopathy), obesity, metabolic syndrome (dyslipidaemia), systemic and pulmonary hypertonia, cardiovascular diseases (for example cardial fibroses after myocardial infarction, cardiac hypertrophy and cardiac insufficiency, arteriosclerosis) and renal diseases (for example glomerulosclerosis, nephrosclerosis, nephritis, nephropathy, electrolyte excretion disorder), generally in any type of fibrosis and inflammatory process (for example liver cirrhosis, pulmonary fibrosis, fibrosing pancreatitis, rheumatism and arthritis, Crohn's disease, chronic bronchitis, radiation fibrosis, sclerodermatitis, cystic fibrosis, scarring, Alzheimer's disease).
The compounds according to the invention can also inhibit the growth of tumour cells and tumour metastases and are therefore suitable for tumour therapy.
The compounds according to the invention are furthermore used for the treatment of coagulopathies, such as, for example, dysfibrinogenaemia, hypoproconvertinaemia, haemophilia B, Stuart-Prower defect, prothrombin complex deficiency, consumption coagulopathy, hyperfibrinolysis, immunocoagulopathy or complex coagulopathies, and also in neuronal excitability, for example epilepsy. The compounds according to the invention can also be employed therapeutically in the treatment of a glaucoma or cataract.
The compounds according to the invention are furthermore used in the treatment of bacterial infections and in antiinfection therapy. The compounds according to the invention can also be employed therapeutically for increasing learning ability and attention.
The identification of small compounds which specifically inhibit, regulate and/or modulate signal transduction of SGKs is therefore desirable and an aim of the present invention.
It has been found that the compounds according to the invention and salts thereof have very valuable pharmacological properties while being well tolerated.
In particular, they exhibit inhibiting properties on SGK.
The present invention therefore relates to compounds according to the invention as medicaments and/or medicament active ingredients in the treatment and/or prophylaxis of the said diseases and to the use of compounds according to the invention for the preparation of a pharmaceutical for the treatment and/or prophylaxis of the said diseases and also to a process for the treatment of the said diseases which comprises the administration of one or more compounds according to the invention to a patient in need of such an administration.
The host or patient may belong to any mammal species, for example a primate species, particularly humans; rodents, including mice, rats and hamsters; rabbits; horses, cows, dogs, cats, etc. Animal models are of interest for experimental investigations, where they provide a model for the treatment of a human disease.
The susceptibility of a certain cell to treatment with the compounds according to the invention can be determined by in-vitro tests. Typically, a culture of the cell is combined with a compound according to the invention at various concentrations for a period of time which is sufficient to enable the active agents to induce cell death or inhibit migration, usually between approximately one hour and one week. For testing in vitro, use can be made of cultivated cells from a biopsy sample. The viable cells remaining after the treatment are then counted.
The dose varies depending on the specific compound used, the specific disease, the patient status, etc. A therapeutic dose is typically sufficient in order considerably to reduce the undesired cell population in the target tissue, while the viability of the patient is maintained. The treatment is generally continued until a considerable reduction has occurred, for example at least an approx. 50% reduction in the cell burden, and can be continued until undesired cells are essentially no longer detected in the body.
For identification of a signal transduction pathway and for detection of interactions between various signal transduction pathways, various scientists have developed suitable models or model systems, for example cell culture models (for example Khwaja et al., EMBO, 1997, 16, 2783-93) and models of transgenic animals (for example White et al., Oncogene, 2001, 20, 7064-7072). For the determination of certain stages in the signal transduction cascade, interacting compounds can be utilised in order to modulate the signal (for example Stephens et al., Biochemical J., 2000, 351, 95-105). The compounds according to the invention can also be used as reagents for testing kinase-dependent signal transduction pathways in animals and/or cell culture models or in the clinical diseases mentioned in this application.
Measurement of the kinase activity is a technique which is well known to the person skilled in the art. Generic test systems for the determination of the kinase activity using substrates, for example histone (for example Alessi et al., FEBS Lett. 1996, 399, 3, pages 333-338) or the basic myelin protein, are described in the literature (for example Campos-González, R. and Glenney, Jr., J. R. 1992, J. Biol. Chem. 267, page 14535).
Various assay systems are available for identification of kinase inhibitors. In the scintillation proximity assay (Sorg et al., J. of. Biomolecular Screening, 2002, 7, 11-19) and the flashplate assay, the radioactive phosphorylation of a protein or peptide as substrate using γATP is measured. In the presence of an inhibitory compound, a reduced radioactive signal, or none at all, is detectable. Furthermore, homogeneous time-resolved fluorescence resonance energy transfer (HTR-FRET) and fluorescence polarisation (FP) technologies are useful as assay methods (Sills et al., J. of Biomolecular Screening, 2002, 191-214).
Other non-radioactive ELISA assay methods use specific phospho antibodies (phospho ABs). The phospho AB only binds the phosphorylated substrate. This binding can be detected by chemoluminescence using a second peroxidase-conjugated antisheep antibody (Ross et al., Biochem. J., 2002, 366, 977-981).